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Beryl glanced down at his watch and I could see he was getting a little antsy. “We may need to wrap this up for today. Jenny will be getting out of her meeting soon. We need to be back before she gets home with the groceries.”
“So, we have a game plan, right?” Hunt looked at Bridgestone. “You’re going to resume some digging into Dave’s firm. Not just his personal clients, but the firm’s clients as a whole. Especially those handled by the partners, correct?”
“Agreed.” Bridgestone said. “And Glory is going to try to reconnect with Dave’s co-workers from a personal perspective to see what kind of reception she gets.”
Our eyes met and I nodded as we all stood to leave.
Intentionally lagging behind on our walk to the car, I grabbed the chance to confirm with Hunt how much of our information he had actually shared with his dad. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t asked that question before now. I assumed that he had not told him about the envelopes, but I wanted to know before I volunteered more information than Hunt was ready to share.
“Come on you two lovebirds.” Beryl yelled from a few strides ahead of us. “We’d better beat your mom home, or she will grill us with a million questions. I really hate keeping this from her, and I am not going to lie if she corners me, so let’s not give her anything to be suspicious of.”
“I haven’t told Dad about the envelopes, but I think we need to—and soon. Even if you are still not sure about Bridgestone, I think we need to be up front with Dad. We can’t get anywhere on our own.”
As much as I hated to agree with him, I knew he was right. We were going to have to confide in Beryl. I’d decide on Bridgestone later. I told Hunt as much and we speed-walked to catch up with Beryl and jumped in the car.
Once we were in the car, Hunt took the lead. “Dad, Glory has more information that we need to share with you before we get any deeper into this with John.”
Beryl cocked an eyebrow and glanced at me in the rearview mirror. “Okay. What is it?”
“When I was packing up my house to move to Alabama, I found a false bottom in Dave’s desk drawer.” I continued. “It contained four envelopes. One of them contained several US passports all with aliases and a federal ID badge. Dave had been working undercover for the FBI for several years without my knowledge.”
I stopped and took a breath as Hunt watched his father’s reaction. I could see in the rear-view mirror the concern creasing Beryl’s forehead.
“Go on,” Beryl said.
I knew I had to hurry, since it was only a few miles to the ranch. “Another envelope held a private letter to me. It had instructions to keep all the information in a safe place and only share it if and when I felt confident that it was with the right person at the right time.”
“And you feel that time is now,” he said.
“Yes. The other two envelopes contained very sensitive information on two questionable individuals that I assume he had collected for the FBI. And more than likely got him killed.”
Beryl turned into the long drive to the house. I breathed a sigh of relief seeing no sign of Jenny’s car yet.
“Who are they?” He pulled the car to a stop and turned in his seat to look at me.
“Frank Fishetti and Salvatore Cardinelli.”
“Hmmm.” Beryl let out an uneasy sigh as he turned back around and stared straight ahead.
“Dad, I’m sorry that we took so long to share the information with you, but it was really Glory’s call and we just wanted to be sure it was the right time.”
“Those are big names. The bureau has been trying to nail The Fish and Big Sal for years.” He took a long breath and blew it out slowly with a whistle. “Do you mind if I have a look at the information?”
“Of course not. We want to all be on the same page from here on out,” I said.
“Does that include John Bridgestone?” Beryl asked.
“Let’s get into the house before Jenny drives up and I’ll explain more about that,” I suggested.
We walked through to the den and took a seat in an effort to look like we’d been lounging around casually all morning. We picked up our conversation from where we paused to come in.
“Maybe it was just my state of mind during that time in my life, but I never felt like Bridgestone was showing any real effort in trying to solve the case. I was so frustrated when I would ask for updates. I felt like he was only doing the minimum just to pacify me. He even suggested that maybe Dave was having an affair and went to Reno to meet a woman. The last time we spoke, our conversation ended with what I considered a threat. I know he said today that he was concerned for my safety, but I know a threat when I hear one. I’ll never forget his words, ‘I’d hate for anything to happen to you’ in such an ominous tone. Then his last words to me before the line went dead were, ‘just leave it alone or you’ll regret it.’”
“Dad, how well do you know him?” Hunt asked.
“Son, I worked with him for twenty years before I retired. He was always a good, honest cop. He got promoted to detective a year after I retired. I have no reason to believe he’s anything but trustworthy. I knew he had worked on the Harper case and when I reached out to him, he agreed to help us out, keeping it all under the radar, of course. He is placing his career and pension on the line by doing this. He and I both believe that something just wasn’t right about the way the case was handled.”
Beryl seemed confident in Bridgestone’s integrity, but I still wasn’t convinced. “I hope you are right about him and that your trust isn’t misplaced, but if it’s alright with you, I really would like to let him continue his thread of the investigation and see where it leads. Maybe, in time, I’ll be ready to share all our information with him. But, for now, I think I will feel better keeping the contents of the envelopes just between us three.” I looked at Hunt, my eyes asking for his approval and he smiled.
Beryl nodded. “You have my word. I won’t share until you’re ready.”
“Thank you.” I turned as I heard the front door open and the click of Jenny’s heels across the tile foyer.
“Hello! Anybody home?” she yelled out in a cheery voice and shrugged out of her coat.
I jumped up from the sofa. “Let me help you bring in the groceries. How was your meeting?”
“Oh, it was fine,” she said, hanging her coat on the hook in the entryway. “Just a whole lot of visiting and a little bit of meeting.” She laughed.
“Did you have any trouble finding everything on our list? I’m excited to get started on our pre-Christmas, Christmas dinner,” I said, grabbing the last couple of bags from the back seat of her car.
“Not at all.” She shut the car door. With a bag of potatoes in one hand, she slipped past me on the steps and opened the door for me to head through to the kitchen with my bags. “Just put those anywhere. Let me get changed, then we’ll sort through them and get started.”
I began unbagging the food and smiled as Hunt walked up behind me, wrapping his arms around me and kissing the top of my head. I turned around to face him and took a long breath, breathing in the scent of his woodsy soap. I leaned my head against his chest.
“I’m sorry. I had no idea that John Bridgestone was the friend Dad had invited. I know you aren’t exactly a fan. Are you okay with everything we discussed this morning?”
I looked up into his eyes and nodded. “I’m fine. I was a little shocked that he thinks that Dave’s firm might be involved in some way. I hope that we find out differently, but money makes people do crazy things.”
“You’re right. What about calling your old friends? You okay with that?”
“I’m a little ashamed that I haven’t tried harder to stay in touch. I really did consider them all friends. We just drifted apart after Dave’s death. I don’t think they knew what to say and it was just easier to let it go. I’m planning on making some calls this afternoon, once your mom and I get dinner preparations under control.” I backed away and leaned against the kitchen island. I shoved my hands in my jeans pockets and stared at a spot on the floor.
“What’s wrong, Glory?” he touched my chin and tilted my face up.
“I don’t know. I think I’m just uneasy about Bridgestone. I still have a million questions swimming around in my head about him. What if he was on the take two years ago? That could explain why he’s so eager to be in on this now. He’s not going to want us digging around in something that’s been buried in a cold case box somewhere.”
“You don’t know that. I know the two of you were like oil and water, but I really do trust Dad’s instincts. He was a cop for a long time, and he can smell a dirty cop a mile away. Let’s just give Bridgestone the benefit of the doubt for now.”
“You’re right. I guess I can do that.”
“If I know you, I have a feeling that you were on him twenty-four seven about updates and new leads. Not everyone finds your charms as irresistible as I do.” He brushed my hair away from my eyes and wrapped his arm around my waist, pulling me to him for a soft kiss.
I smiled. “Well, there are certain charms I don’t use on just anyone. I reserve those just for you.” I turned back to the job at hand. “I better get the rest of these groceries out before your momma has my hide.”